


Love is just like courage

by obviouslyelementary



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 08:51:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13050639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obviouslyelementary/pseuds/obviouslyelementary
Summary: "And despite of everything, Link’s eyes still shone when they saw Revali taking his full, alive body back.Because love was just like courage: it couldn’t be remembered, because it was never truly forgotten."





	Love is just like courage

The days went rushing by. Sometimes, Link was certain that the day was around four hours long, and not twenty four.

And four very, very long and tiring hours.

By the end of the day, it was Link’s duty to take the princess back to the castle. He would present his daily report to the king, grab some food in the dining hall and go straight to his chambers.

Most days, he was alone. Most days, he stayed inside, tossing and turning in his sleep as nightmares came to hunt him at night. It was terrible. But he could live with it. He had lived with far worst things before.

However, there were a few nights, just a few, where he did not sleep alone.

Those nights, he had a wonderfully handsome pack of feathers waiting for his arrival in his chambers.

And that night was one of those nights.

“Ten thirty? To wake up at four in the morning? What is this royal family thinking?” Revali asked, angrily, as he looked at Link once he had opened the door. Link didn’t even mind the harsh tone. He smiled, wide and big, and rushed to his boyfriend, jumping on him and squeezing his neck as the rito huffed and wrapped his wings around him. “I missed you too, now calm down, hero” he chuckled.

Link shook his head and nuzzled on his neck, sitting on his lap and making himself onto a comfy and happy ball. Revali sighed and then chuckled, rubbing his back and gently nuzzling his beak against Link’s hair.

“I missed you” Link whispered, his voice a bit raspy from not using it often. Revali smiled and nodded, pulling away and brushing his beak against Link’s nose.

“I missed you too, Link” he mumbled and Link beamed at the Rito kiss, lifting his head and placing a Hylian kiss to the tip of Revali’s beak. His cheek feathers puffed light and Link giggled.

‘Why did you take so long to come visit?’ he signed, and Revali took a deep breath.

“Rito Village was attacked. Again. Me and other three warriors had to spend an entire week surrounding the area and killing moblins, lizalfos and mocoblins all around the region. They had bomb and ice arrows, so it was a bit… difficult. But we managed” he stopped and sighed. “They are becoming more and more common everywhere. The calamity is close to its freedom. You can feel it in the air”

‘Are you hurt?’ Link asked, worriedly, and Revali chuckled.

“Me? Hurt? Please, who do you think I am?” he laughed, and Link frowned, poking his chest.

‘I am serious. I have a few elixirs that Zelda gave me. If you need them, tell me’ he signed, and quickly grabbed a bottle from his pocket. The rito raised an eyebrow, and then hummed.

“I still become surprised at how wide your pocket is” he said, and Link chuckled softly.

‘It is a magical pocket. You know it’

“Yes, but still!” he said, astounded. “You can fit a Lynel inside of that!”

‘Why would I need a Lynel inside my pocket?’

“Who knows? Maybe you could domesticate it” he shrugged and Link giggled again, making him smile. “You seem happy today”

‘Yes. I am seeing you after weeks’ he signed and smiled wider, his eyes sparkling, cheeks lightly pink. Revali felt his heart beating at a slower pace, and his whole body relax at that. He lifted his wings and gently caressed Link’s face, and the knight closed his eyes, relaxing on the soft and sweet touch.

“You are a sight for sore eyes” he whispered, and Link opened his eyes, more serene now, leaning forward and nuzzling on Revali’s neck again. He sighed, and held Link close with both of his wings. “I don’t know what is about to come, but please be careful okay?”

Link nodded.

They were all afraid.

But they could do nothing but wait.

 

 

“So, the king finally gave you a break?” Revali asked as he and Link sat by the peak of Rito village, just next to Vah Medoh. Link sat between the rito’s legs as he slowly made up braids on his boyfriend’s hair, decorating them with his own feathers.

At the question, Link shook his head.

‘Zelda did’ he signed, and Revali frowned.

“I thought she couldn’t command you to leave her side” he said, confused, and Link nodded.

‘She can’t. But she told me she was going to spend some time with Mipha in Zora’s domain, and that is the safest place I have ever been to. So she is safe’ he signed and smiled. Revali smiled back and then chuckled.

“Is she finally going to tell the fish she likes her?” he asked, curious, and Link laughed at that, grinning from ear to ear.

‘I don’t know. But I hope so. Mipha has been crushing on Zelda for far too long and they need to solve themselves’ he giggled and Revali chuckled.

“Don’t act as if this was easy” he said and slowly locked Link’s braid with a clip before plucking out one of his feathers and placing it between the hair and the clip. “We took months to confess”

‘We did. You were too self absorbed’ Link signed and Revali frowned, slapping his arm and making him pout. ‘Ouch! What was that for?’

“Don’t call me ‘self absorbed’” he huffed and crossed his arms. “And besides, it wasn’t like you were doing any better job in showing how you liked me. You were always stoic and quiet around me! You didn’t even speak with your hands!”

‘I know’ he smiled and leaned against Revali, nuzzling on his chest. ‘I was shy okay? And besides, I thought you hated me. So there’

“I didn’t” he said and smiled, slowly reaching towards the second braid and slowly locking it in place with a clip. Then, he reached behind Link’s head and pulled his ponytail loose, letting his hair free to wave with the wind. “Your hair looks way better like this then up”

‘But it gets messy when I fight’ Link signed and looked up at Revali, smiling lazily. The rito champion smiled back. It seemed hard to see Link so relaxed and calm these last weeks.

“You didn’t tell me. How did you get from Zora’s domain to here?” he asked, suspicious, and Link hummed, shrugging.

‘Grabbed Epona in the stable and headed over by horse’

“You what?!” he asked, loudly, and Link looked at him, surprised. “You came all the way from Zora’s domain to Rito village on a horse, on your own?!”

‘Yes..?’ he winced at Revali’s loud squawk of rage.

“Do you know how dangerous it is, to walk around Hyrule Field by yourself at these times?! How dangerous it is to be alone as you go through the Wetlands?! And the field itself?! And…” he stopped and narrowed his eyes as he stared right at Link. “Did you come from Hebra region? Or Tabantha frontier?”

Link took a moment to answer, still taking in all the complaints and angry motions and words.

‘He… bra?’

“For Hylia herself!” he squawked again and Link winced. “Only the coldest region of all Hyrule! A hylian! Without the appropriate clothing!”

‘I stayed in the stable and I made myself some cold resistance food! Besides, you said yourself that the Tabantha region is more dangerous, so I took the longer but easier path…’ he signed and Revali growled, looking away from Link.

“Next time just… Just… ugh” he groaned and looked at Link, who was staring back, eyes wide and apologetic. “Don’t… don’t look at me like that”

‘I’m sorry…’

“Link…”

‘I just… wanted to see you…’

“Link, stop”

‘Next time I will just stay in the Domain…’

“Shush, stupid hylian” Revali huffed and hugged Link tight. “I am just worried, alright? The world is… very dangerous now and I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt because of me. The princess is already trouble enough”

“I love you” Link muttered after a while, hugging Revali back and closing his eyes. The rito felt his heart ache and warm up, warmer than Death Mountain itself. Then, he smiled.

“I love you too” he whispered and nuzzled his beak on Link’s hair as a rito kiss.

They were ruined, and they knew it.

 

 

Revali wasn’t sure of what hurt more: his wing or his pride.

Outside the cave, water poured from the sky like a waterfall on a lake. It was almost impossible to see the trees surrounding the cave, unless there was a lightening, which honestly was never a good sign.

The rito champion was laid next to a rustic fire, with one wing wrapped around a dark blue cloth and spread to the side. Next to him, sat none other than Link, who was quietly trying to find a way of making some more elixirs without a pot.

“I am fine, Link” Revali said for the third time that day, but Link simply stared at him angrily, and that was enough to make him shut up and look away.

Honestly, he understood why Link was so mad. The champions and the princess had been off to find something in the Faron region, close to the beaches. Some type of ancient artifact that wasn’t shieka. However, to reach the beaches, they had to walk through the forests, and upon one of those days walking, they ended up ambushed by a large group of silver mokoblins and lizalfos. Which was just wonderful, considering they had shock arrows and iron weapons that attracted lightening.

Also, for some reason, it always rained in Faron, so they were in troubling territory there.

And while the rest was mostly protected from the shock arrows with elixirs Zelda had made, Mipha, as a Zora, was extremely vulnerable, and such chosen to stay behind the group and not fight unless utterly necessary.

Urbosa and Daruk took the front lines, since they had the least problem with lightening. And Revali himself wouldn’t have had much problem into flying and discharging all his bomb arrows on that group, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was raining. And raining meant inactive bomb arrows and soaked feathers.

He was heavier than a bull.

 Because of that, he stayed behind with Link and Zelda. The princess had literally nothing to defend herself with and for some reason or another, the sword that sealed the darkness was extremely lightening attracting, so Link changed his weapon for a wood one instead.

They weren’t taking any risks.

Until the attacking part came.

At first, everything seemed fine. With Link’s help, Revali climbed up a not very tall tree and stayed there, shooting the enemies that came too close to Urbosa or Daruk when they weren’t paying attention. However, at some point, a lightning struck right over Daruk and one of the mokoblins, sending both flying away. Daruk fell over close to the water, which was a blessing because Gorons could not swim, and the mokoblin fell dead on the floor. However, without Daruk, the space to pass opened and while Urbosa tried to cover, a lizalfos used her distraction and sent her flying away with its tail towards Link and Zelda.

The princess was quick to act, grabbing Urbosa and pulling her behind the tree, and Link quickly armed himself, ready to deal some damage on the rest of the group.

There weren’t that many. Two lizalfos and one mokoblin left. However, one of those lizalfos still had a bow, and while it was hidden over a rock formation, it could still hit Link and use the puddles on the ground for its advantage.

Slightly more worried than he should be, Revali decided to take action and jumped off the tree, as high as he could. He knew he didn’t have that many air time, considering his soaked wings, but the time was just enough to perform one of his special moves and get the lizalphos right on the horn, sending it back a long way and his bow falling over the edge of the cliff, all the way down the waterfall.

Link had been already heading towards the mokoblin and the lizalphos when Zelda sent out a warning scream.

“Revali! Behind you!” she screamed.

It was too late.

The shock arrow came right through his left wing, warning the group of the few moblins coming from behind them with more shock arrows.

It took that only single hit for the Rito champion to fall to the ground, unconscious, trembling in place as the shocking effect lasted longer on his wet body.

He felt nothing after that. He wasn’t aware of the fight, of the rest of the champions fleeing the scene, and of Link staying behind and taking him towards a cave. All he remembered was after he woke up, warm and dry, but with a pain in his arm and an angry hero by his side.

He guessed apologies wouldn’t do no good, and Revali was never one to apologize anyway.

But in any case, Link had saved him and parted his ways with the princess, and now the knight was clearly angry and disturbed to be away from her. But there was nothing they could do. So there.

“You know you can leave me and go after them, right? After all, you can clearly handle yourself under rain” he said, as an apology. It was not taken as such, however.

‘Oh yeah? And leave you behind? Alone? When you can’t even use your bow?’ Link signed, so quickly that Revali almost didn’t get it. ‘Great idea. You will survive two days and Zelda won’t have her wind champion and I…’ he stopped and sighed.

Revali didn’t need him to continue.

“You have your priorities. You can mark the cave and come get me after you are sure she is safe” he said, almost mumbling, looking at his wing and touching it with his good feathertips.

It would take a few weeks to fully heal by itself, maybe one week with Mipha’s help. Who truly knew?

Sometimes, it hurt more to have Link to himself than to imagine not having him at all.

Revali was looking at his wing, so he only knew Link was close when he gently pulled his head up, caressing his feathery cheeks gently, his eyes filled with worry and sentiment.

“I should, but while my duty rests on her, my heart rests on you” he whispered, brokenly, and Revali blushed, feathers puffing up as he snapped his face away from Link’s hand to look away. He, however, just moved to face Revali again. ‘Stop shutting me out’ he signed now. ‘We are together. We are partners. You have to trust me’

“I trust you” he said, looking down, and then up again, at Link. He tilted his head. “Why did you stay?”

‘I was worried that if I took you  any farther out, I would find another group of monsters and not be able to fight them off without hurting you even more’

“And do you think the others will keep her safe?”

‘They are the champions. They need to be good at something, right?’

“They all did fail in the little fight we had today, to be honest”

‘So did you’

“I didn’t say I won anything”

They stayed quiet for a moment, just looking at each other, before Link moved closer.

‘Why did you do that? Kill that lizalphos? I knew it was there…’ he signed, and Revali sighed.

“I know you did. I think I was just… too worried you might forget it. So I wanted to get it out of your way as soon as possible” he said, and Link smiled shyly.

‘Such a protective bird’

“Don’t call me bird”

Link responded with a kiss on his beak and promises of homemade simmered berries.

 

 

“The day is coming”

Revali looked at Link slowly from where they sat at the beak of Vah Medoh. He raised an eyebrow, but the hero did not look at him. His eyes were fixated on the castle, the blue darker than ever, as if he was seeing something beyond their world. Also, he had spoken, which meant extremely serious business.

“What day?” Revali asked, and Link barely even blinked, still staring at the castle, the center of all Hyrule.

“The day. The calamity. The rise of evil” he whispered, and Revali just stared at him. He had never seen Link look so dark, so focused, so… obscure.

“Link? Are.. are you alright?” he asked, worriedly, placing his wing at his shoulder.

Link’s bangs covered his face for a second, or even half of a second, and then Link turned to face the rito, his eyes far, far away, misty with some type of mysterious fog, filled with tears up to the point where they were almost falling from his eyes.

He didn’t seem to be seeing Revali at all. He seemed to be seeing beyond him, to another dimension, another time. Revali was frozen.

“They came to me in dream” Link said, and his voice was thick, as if he was keeping himself from crying. “The goddesses came… They said that no matter what we do, it will be in vain… they said… they said Hyrule will be destroyed… and I will spend one hundred years asleep…” he continued, hiccupping as the tears started to leave his eyes. “They said… they said… that I will forget it all… and that the champions… will die” he continued, his eyes focusing again, looking up at Revali. “That you… will…”

He bit his lip, unable to continue as the tears came full force, and despite not knowing what just had happened, revali wrapped his wings around Link and pulled him close, hugging him and holding him as he cried.

He had never seen the hero cry.

He had never seen Link cry.

And he cried for hours over Medoh, being held by Revali as he tried to understand what Link was saying.

Was that only a dream of someone that could not usually rest, concerned by all those thoughts, or was that an actual vision of what would happen?

He decided to ask Link what he thought in the next morning, when he was rested. However, Link did not remember what he had said.

‘I never said anything like that Revali’ he signed over breakfast, truly confused. Revali as confused too. That had been so personal and… meaningful.

Perhaps… perhaps it had been a calling of some kind.

Or maybe a warning. Not for Link, but for himself.

 

 

“There must be something I can do to help!”

At that phrase, all champions looked at Zelda, surprised but mostly worried.

“No Zelda, you can’t! You must stay safe!” Mipha said right away, walking closer to her and bringing both Daruk and Urbosa to the discussion right away. Revali, however, moved closer to Link and pulled him away from the group, holding his face, pressing their foreheads together.

“Should I even ask you to be careful?” he asked, and Link smiled weakly, shaking his head. “Good. And… I know you won’t anyway but… be selfish. For me”

‘I have to save her and protect her’ he signed, almost resigned, and Revali sighed, closing his eyes.

“It is fine… just… just know that I love you, alright?” he mumbled and slowly took out of his pocket two beads. Link looked down at them, curious, and Revali smiled. “These white beads are… a sign. Of my love to you”

‘I don’t have anything-’ Link tried, but Revali held his hands and nodded.

“I know and I don’t mind. Keep the beads and remember that I… I love you” he whispered, and Link nodded, taking them and kissing Revali’s beak gently.

“I will see you… in a few days” Link whispered, brokenly, and Revali nodded, taking a deep breath so he wouldn’t start crying.

“Remember me” he asked and then pulled away as Daruk called. “Goodbye, Link”

And then, he flew off after the champions, leaving Link and Zelda behind as they headed straight to the divine beasts.

Something inside him begged to stay at Link’s side. However, he knew that if one divine beast was missing, Link would not be able to kill Ganon once and for all.

So, he headed there, keeping Link constantly in mind.

 

 

One hundred years went by. Revali watched Rito village be terrorized by Vah Medoh for a century, with nothing he could do.

And then came Link, to save the day.

A Link that knew nothing about anything. Innocent, sweet boy Link who agreed to help a village. A link that did not remember his name, that did not cry upon seeing him, that did not have the white beads with him.

But it did not matter. Because Ganon was killed and Zelda was back and the goddess was merciful in their souls, bringing all four champions to life.

And despite of everything, Link’s eyes still shone when they saw Revali taking his full, alive body back.

Because love was just like courage: it couldn’t be remembered, because it was never truly forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> I was taking so long to actually write something good for these two!
> 
> Anyway, I loved this and I can assure you all I will be coming back to this ship very soon hahaha
> 
> Stay tunned! Leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed and maybe some suggestions?
> 
> Anyway, up to you all! Thanks for reading!


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